Jay Root

Jay Root
is a native of Liberty. He never knew any reporters growing up, and he has never taken a journalism class in his life. But somehow he got hooked on the news business. It all started when Root walked into the offices of The Daily Texan, his college newspaper, during his last year at the University of Texas in 1987. He couldn't resist the draw: it was the biggest collection of misfits ever assembled. After graduating, he took a job at a Houston chemical company and soon realized it wasn't for him. Root applied for an unpaid internship at the Houston Post in 1990, and it turned into a full-time job that same year. He has been a reporter ever since. Root has covered natural disasters, live music and Texas politics — not necessarily in that order. He was Austin bureau chief of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram for a dozen years, most of them good. He also covered politics and the Legislature for The Associated Press before joining the staff of the Tribune.Root is the author of “Oops! A Diary From The 2012 Campaign Trail,” an insider’s account of Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s dramatic collapse in the 2012 presidential race. The book was released in September, 2012.

Nearly a year after a series of self-inflicted wounds led to a purge of the agency's upper management, a new commissioner and new executive director have launched a series of reforms — and the businesses they regulate say they've seen a big change.

The Tea Party group sent out mailers under the name "Texas Ethics Disclosure Board" to attack state Rep. Charlie Geren. Now it's asking a federal judge to shield it from state prosecutors' possible investigations.

Gov. Greg Abbott and the state's top Tea Party group — Empower Texans — went hard after "squishy" Republicans who bucked the governor or strayed too far from the party orthodoxy. The effort mostly failed.

Judicial races in Texas are typically low-key affairs, but in the GOP race for the 3rd Court of Appeals, Michael Toth is hitting the same themes you'd see in a race for Congress. Experts say it could be a sign of things to come.

Legit advertisement or dirty campaign trick? That's the question for Travis County prosecutors who are reviewing a criminal complaint against the influential conservative group Empower Texans. At issue: A mailer that looks like an official government notice targeting their top bête noire, state Rep. Charlie Geren, R-Fort Worth.

Donors pumped a total of $67 million into state-level campaigns from the beginning of 2017 through Jan. 25, and a whopping $57 million of it, or about 86 percent, went to GOP candidates, according to a Texas Tribune analysis. Gov. Greg Abbott got nearly a third of all the political money raised since the start of last year.

When the land commissioner wanted to buy a West Austin house, he turned to a major donor's bank for an $850,000 mortgage — then put it under the name of a family trust to keep his home address secret. Bush says death threats made the move necessary.

George P. Bush, whose agency took over running the iconic Texas landmark from the Daughters of the Republic of Texas in 2015, says a "doctored" audit led to the investigation — but won't say how it was doctored.

The Texas General Land Office, led by Republican Land Commissioner George P. Bush, signed a contract with Horne LLP for Harvey disaster recovery services on Oct. 30, 2017. Three days later, Bush received $27,500 in campaign money from Horne executives.

The powerful Texas Association of Business has been using "dark money" — which obscures the identity of political donors — for its political action committee. The group says the money's used only for administrative expenses.

If the Trump administration follows through on the president's promises to build a border wall, would it actually stop undocumented immigrants and illegal drugs? Two former smugglers explain how they'd work around it.